


Scheme of the Sirens

by Katsala



Series: Forces of Nature [2]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alien Planet, American Companion, CPR, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Japanese-American Character, Mermaids, Musical References, Reference to The Shakespeare Code
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:53:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27184097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsala/pseuds/Katsala
Summary: The Doctor’s new companion wants mermaids, so mermaids she’ll get. The planet of the Ondine is hosting a music festival for to showcase their singing talents, but what should be a day of revelry soon gets more complicated by the appearance of 20th century composer Lili Boulanger.
Series: Forces of Nature [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967434
Kudos: 1





	Scheme of the Sirens

**Author's Note:**

> Edited for typos as of 12/12/20

VWORP

VWORP

VWORP  
  


The Doctor turns to Candice, who is buzzing with excitement, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet and chewing on the ends of her long black hair. “Outside these doors,” she tells her, “is your first alien planet. Your last first step off of Earth. Are you ready?”

Candice nods, eyes wide.

The Doctor takes her hand and slowly walks her to the doors. “Well then,” she says, snapping her fingers, “welcome to Ondine.”

Candice walks out of the TARDIS as if in a trance, letting out a little incredulous laugh. Through her the Doctor can feel the wonder of new place, of fantastical things. The sky of Ondine is red as blood, and because of the two suns it is always light out. They stand on one of a series of small islands connected by bridges, one of the few places on the planet that isn’t completely underwater. Around them is the setup of a music festival, looking vaguely reminiscent of Woodstock. The Doctor makes a note to take Candice there, too. 

Candice lets out a squeak when she sees her first mermaid roll past in a wheelchair, humanoid from the waist up, her chest covered by a Nirvana shirt and her multicolored tail flashing in the sunlight, making clicking sounds with her tongue. The Doctor closes the TARDIS doors behind them and goes into tour guide mode. “That’s an Ondine; the planet was named for the species. They’re an all female species, evolved to breathe both air and water, but they need assistive devices to move on land. And since they were born down in the depths, they can’t see; they navigate through echolocation.”

Candice’s eyes follow the Ondine as she makes her way over one of the bridges, which plays a song as she rolls over the slats. “Why is there a music festival?”

The Doctor smiles. She heads through the crowd of humanoids, Ondine, and other aliens, towards what looks like a food stall; Candice follows. “They’re incredible singers, the best in the galaxy. It’s said they’re a genetic offspring of a species called the Carrionites, basically witches. In the old days the Ondine could do with song what they could do with words.”

Candice looks over the menu, which is full of regional galactic fair foods. “I have no idea what any of this is. Order for me?”

The Doctor shrugs. “We’ll take-“

A loud bang and a shower of sparks erupts from a nearby soundboard. The Doctor squeezes Candice’s hand and starts running towards the noise, dodging in and out of the crowd.

The sound system at this stage is going berserk. The musicians onstage, a human on tambourine and a zygon on guitar, have their hands over their ears, trying to block out the screeching sound. An Ondine is frantically hitting buttons, trying to fix it. The Doctor pulls out her sonic and scans the tech. Eyes narrowing, she turns it to setting six; the cacophony shuts off instantly, leaving her with a ringing in her ears.

“Thank you!” The Ondine gushes a little too loudly, digging at her ears as if trying to pop them. 

“Oh, no problem,” the Doctor says idly. “Only the thing is, it shouldn’t have been doing that in the first place. Something supercharged the system and put it into overload. I wonder…” She turns to Candice, but finds an empty space where she should be. The Doctor shakes her head. “Always with the wandering off.”

Candice spots her on the run over to the sound system. She’s a pale little thing just like the Doctor, with dark hair pulled back and dark, serious eyes. She’s wearing a long, sopping wet nightgown, and her feet are bare. 

“Hi,” Candice says, sidling up next to her. “Are you lost?”

The woman looks at her, frightened. “I do not know. I cannot remember-“ Her accent is thick and French and earthy. Candice wonders if she came here with another traveler like the Doctor. Are there other travelers like the Doctor? “What is this place? What are these creatures?”

Candice pulls off her wooly brown cardigan and wraps it around her shoulders. “It’s okay. I came here with a friend, she’ll know what to do.” The Doctor always seems to know what to do. “Let’s go find her. What’s your name?”

“Lili,” she says, pulling the cardigan tight around herself. “And you?”

“Candice. And my friend is called the Doctor.”

Lili smiles with an amusement Candice doesn’t get. “Just what I need- more doctors.”

She and Candice cross one of the bridges to get back to where she left the Doctor; it plays “Waterfalls” by TLC.

“There you are,” the Doctor says. She’s got that little silver tool out again and is scanning a bunch of cables. “I think something is-“ she stops dead when she sees Lili. She stands there for a moment, dumbstruck, before whispering reverently, “Marie-Juliette Olga Boulanger.”

Candice whispers back, “Who is Marie-Juliette Olga Boulanger?”

Lili raises her hand, fighting a smile. “Just Lili is fine.”

“Lili Boulanger wants me to call her Lili,” the Doctor says dreamily. 

Candice, feeling left out, gently kicks the Doctor in the shins. “Who is Lili Boulanger?” She demands.

“The best composer of the 20th century.”

Lili laughs aloud at that. “You flatter me, Ms. Doctor.”

The Doctor shakes her head. “I mean it. The first woman to win the Prix de Rome, and at only age nineteen! Younger sister of Nadia Boulanger, born with perfect pitch, writer of “Les sirènes”- I got married to that song once! You’re more than brilliant. You’re absolutely groovy.”

Candice clears her throat awkwardly. “Why haven’t I heard of her?” She asks the Doctor in a low voice. 

Lili hears her anyway. “Because I am dying.” She looks around the festival with new eyes. “Is this truly what Heaven is like? I did not expect it to be so strange.”

“I don’t think it’s Heaven, sorry,” Candice explains. “We’re on another planet, way into the future. The Doctor brought me here with her time machine.”

“So the question is,” the Doctor continues, scanning Lili with her thingamajig, “who brought you here? And why?” The thingamajig chirps and the Doctor reads off the results under her breath, eyebrows creasing. “Well. That’s interesting.”

“What’s interesting?” Candice asks. 

The Doctor shoves the thingy into her coat pocket. “I need to run more tests. Lili, would you mind coming to my time machine?”

Lili’s smile returns, making her look even younger. “How could I say no?”

They’re on their way to the TARDIS when she hears the splashing. She looks down.

A cold hand grips her leg and pulls her off-balance; she falls, hitting her chin on the wood, unable to even call out to the Doctor. The last thing she sees before the hands pull her under is the Doctor reaching for her.

Then there’s nothing but the water.

Candice’s face disappears beneath the surface. She’d been terrified. She’s twenty-three and the Doctor has brought her here and if anything happens to her…

The Doctor shrugs off her fur coat and dives in after her, tries to keep her eyes open against the salt water as she swims deeper. She can just see the outline of Candice being dragged down by a group of Ondine, flashing and glittering in the fading light; one of them, seeing the Doctor, pulls out a remote.

Suddenly the water pushes back. The Doctor feels it stiffen around her, becoming slimy and sticky, gunking up her nose and mouth. She changes direction and fights her way back to the surface; Lili’s delicate hands plunge down and find hers, and she pulls her up with a deceptive amount of strength. 

The Doctor surfaces from the sea-turned-gelatin, coughing. The noise above the surface is mind-numbing, a song playing so loud the bridges are shaking. Festival-goers are huddled, hands over ears. She retrieves her sonic from her pocket and points it at the offending sound system. A shower of sparks blows from it and the noise abruptly stops. The water gives off a horrible schlorping sound and returns to liquid form. 

Lili helps the Doctor the rest of the way onto the bridge. “Is she dead?” She demands.

“I don’t think so,” she says, convincing herself it’s true. She pounds on her forehead, exasperated. “I have no idea what’s going on. I need more information, more to work with.” She considers Lili. “Are you sure you don’t remember how you got here?”

Lili shakes her head, looking shattered. “No. It feels as though the memories are there, but every time I try to see them they slip out of my grasp, like… like water.”

The Doctor chews on her lip. “There’s something I can try. I promise it won’t be painful, but it’s intimate. You don’t have to if you aren’t comfortable.”

Lili sets her chin, suddenly looking like the most French person in the galaxy. “Candice was kind to me. I will do it, whatever it is, if it helps her.” 

The Doctor nods. “Okay. Close your eyes.” She places her hands on Lili’s temples. “Relax. Let my mind see yours.”

Lili remembers being in her bed. She’s weak, weaker than she’d ever been. Her sister Nadia is there. Nadia is always there.

Then there is a song and she is gone. Hands are on her and she’s underwater, unable to breathe, choking on the sea. Something sharp pierces her neck, and suddenly her body fills with strength and the water in her lungs is as natural as air.

The creatures, beautiful and terrible, lock her up and give her strange tablets to write on. They chose her because of her music. They want her to write a new song- a song with power untold, a song to capture the senses and ensnare the mind. To make the Ondine, like the Carrionites before them, dominators of the universe. Their small sect would lead the others of their kind to victory. 

There is one of the rebellious Ondine, though, that is not mad with power. Her name is Maleine. Lili begs her, as best she can, to let her go. 

The woman unlocks the cage. Lili swims to the surface and breaches in the strangest place she has ever seen; the second air enters her lungs there’s a sharp pain in her neck, and she remembers nothing. 

“Suspended animation device,” the Doctor reasons, carefully pulling her mind away from Lili’s. “Old tech; it must have glitched out when its environment changed, wiped your memories. They would know it’s a delicate piece of equipment. They want you alive, and they’ve probably mistaken her for you. If they saw she couldn’t breathe when they dragged her down, they would have implanted a new device.” The Doctor really hopes that’s true. “And with your help, we have a location. I can get my ship to fly us straight there.”

Lili blinks at her slowly, her mind still a bit fuzzy from the meld. “Your ship can go underwater, then? Is it a submarine?”

The Doctor grins. 

Whatever they injected into her neck stings like hell, worse than the salt in her eyes. She’s uncomfortable and pissed off and her new leather boots are absolutely ruined. 

The Ondine drag her down to an underwater cave system; they pull her through passages, some so small they have to go single-file and Candice scrapes her knees. Eventually they reach what Candice assumes is their version of a throne room. Three Ondine, bigger than the rest at maybe eight feet tall, float above quartz-like pedestals. Another normal Ondine is in shackles on the floor behind them. A small sound system, similar to the ones at the festival, is being manned by an Ondine wearing headphones. The whole room is lit by jellyfish-like creatures, which float around the room aimlessly. 

“Lili Boulanger,” the middle mega-Ondine intones. The movements of her mouth don’t line up with her words, and Candice wonders if there’s some effect from the TARDIS or the implant that translates their underwater language. “I am glad you have returned to us.” She gestures to one of the other mega-Ondine, who swims over to Candice and hands her what looks like a prismatic computer screen; it responds at her touch, lighting up and showing her a screen with music notes on it. “You will finish the song.”

“Finish the song,” the others chant together. “Finish the song. Finish the song.”

Candice purses her lips and starts writing. 

She hands the tablet back some time later. She says nothing. 

The three large Ondine take their places above their thrones. Each pulls out what looks like a microphone; the middle one makes a clicking sound towards the Ondine on the sound system, and they begin to sing. 

“You’ll always be a part of me/I’m part of you indefinitely/Boy, don’t you know you can’t escape me/Ooh, darling, cause you’ll always be my baby-“

Candice bites back inappropriate hysterical laughter. The water around the room heats up, becoming like bathwater, but whatever the Ondine want doesn’t happen. The one on the sound system fiddles with the controls.

“And all the roads we have to walk are winding/And all the lights that lead us there are blinding/There are many things that I would like to say to you/But I don't know how-“

There’s a series of cracking and snapping noises. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the chained Ondine shifting. 

“In the deep, in the deep, in the dark/I am waiting, oh, waiting for you/In the deepness, the deepness of time/I will show you, oh, show you the truth-“

One of the Ondine guarding her tightens her grip on Candice’s arm. She gets the feeling she’s run out of time to stall.

GLUG

GLUG

GLUG

The water is displaced as the TARDIS materializes; the current runs through Candice’s hair, tangling it around her head.

The Doctor throws the doors open, her hip cocked and a grin on her lips that widens when she sees Candice. No water passes through the opening, stopped by some internal mechanism. She can see past the Doctor into the ship itself, which Lili appears to be piloting by means of a squishy pink panel. “Mariah Carey? Really?”

Candice laughs, bubbles bursting from her mouth. “Snob. Next time I’ll have them sing disco, how about that?”

“A Time Witch,” the lead Ondine hisses, their singing halted. “What is your business here?”

The Doctor’s grin widens even more, feral and all-teeth. “Shut up. I’m not talking to you.” She turns back to Candice. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” she tells her. “They owe me a new pair of shoes, though.”

The Doctor relaxes a fraction. “Good. I’ll be nice, then. Turn yourselves in,” she says to the room at large. “We can end this peacefully.”

“A Time Witch selling peace,” the Ondine hisses angrily. “Your species has grown soft.”

“Thank you for noticing. It took a lot of work.” A bang rang out and a silvery projectile bounced off a forcefield in front of the Doctor’s face before it could hit her between the eyes. Candice, whipping around, saw one of the Ondine had snuck around with a gun to get a shot off. “Always with the guns. Between that and the wandering off I’m having a hell of a day, I hope you realize.”

The Ondine with the gun snarled. “The Witch is immobilized! She cannot leave the safety of her craft! We will show her the price of cowardice!” And she raises her gun and shoots at Candice.

With a rainbow flash the chained Ondine swims in front of her, wrapping her in her arms. Candice can feel the impact through her as the projectile hits her protector’s back. She can hear Lili screaming from the TARDIS. 

The rest of the Ondine begin to flee the throne room, the TARDIS swishing after them, smashing stones. All Candice can see is the eyes of the woman who saved her. 

She cradles the woman in her hand, trying to put pressure on the wound. A red mist of blood floats up around them.

“Hey, sweetie. Hey. Stay with me.” Candice tried to smile reassuringly at her and probably fails. “What’s your name?”

“Maleine,” she whispers. Her eyes flutter closed. 

“Maleine. Okay. We can do this.” Candice starts chest compressions the way her father showed her. One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two. Three. Four. 

Maleine doesn’t move. 

One. Two. Three. Four. 

The Doctor took over the controls from Lili, shutting the telepathic circuits and going manual. The TARDIS glided through the water, hot on the tails of the Ondine.

“Maleine-“ Lili starts, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Candice will take care of her,” the Doctor interrupts. “And if we lose them there’s no telling what they’ll do now that their plans are falling apart.” She pilots the TARDIS expertly over a coral reef teeming with life and swerves around a fish the size of Big Ben, but she’s still losing them. The insurgent Ondine have the home-field advantage. They need an edge. 

The Doctor reaches for the keyboard on the control panel and types in a quick code. A small Earth-retro microphone on a cable drops from the ceiling; Lili catches it with a yelp. 

“Start singing,” she advises.

“Sing what? I am not like them, I have no magic!” Lili protests.

The Doctor shakes her head, giving her a sad smile. “Oh, Lili Boulanger. You have no idea how special you really are, do you? The little girl who chooses perfect notes. Even when you were in the hospital dying you had your sister notate your work because the music wouldn’t stop coming. You were born to do this.” 

Lili holds the microphone to her lips and sings. 

She sings like a dying woman. Her voice is the wilds of France and the hope in the end. The sea comes to life around it. The Ondine are paralyzed at the sound. 

The Doctor scoops them up in the TARDIS as if she’s Pacman, letting them flop around on the floor, their expressions transfixed. And that’s that.

Candice thinks she’s probably broken every rib in Maleine’s body by the time the Doctor returns, but she’s alive. 

Lili helps her bring her into the TARDIS and sits with them as the travel back to the festival. First aid takes Maleine to their tent. She’s alive. 

Lili hugs her tightly. “Thank you for helping her,” she whispers hoarsely. 

Candice hugs back even tighter.

The Doctor finishes explaining the situation to security; the rebel Ondine will be held by them until the galactic police force arrives to take them away. She also managed to score free food from the stalls. The three of them walk through the festival, listening to music in peace, eating glowfish pancakes and spirilized tuber fries. 

“Candice,” the Doctor asks, the picture of nonchalance, “what was that last song in your little medley? The one about the Deepness of time.”

“It’s just some random pop song, I think. I’ve heard it on the radio.” Candice shrugs and eats more minitankata jerky. “How long can Lili stay?”

“Well, the song they used to transport her hear doesn’t last forever. The ‘magic’ will fade anytime now and she’ll be right back where she was, no harm done.”

“But you were dying before,” Candice says softly, looking at Lili sadly. “Can’t we do something, Doctor? Take her to some hospital in the future?”

The Doctor sighs. “Even if we could, I think it’s too late.”

“What do you mean, Doctor?” Lili asks.

The Doctor stops walking. “I think you’re already dead, Lili. You have no vital signs. I saw it when I scanned you with the sonic screwdriver, and while you were in the TARDIS I confirmed it.”

“No,” Candice says, going cold. “No, she’s here. She’s conscious, she’s thinking.” She reaches for Lili’s hand. “She’s warm, for God’s sake.”

“That’s the suspended animation device. She’s suspended on her last heartbeat. Once it stops working, she dies. I’m sorry. To both of you. But this is how it is.”

Candice is about to start screaming, demand that the Doctor do something, but Lili turns to her and puts a hand on her cheek. “It is alright, Candice.” She smiles, no trace of fear in her face. “I will not run from this. I should be dead already; meeting you, helping these people, hearing this music, it is a gift. It is extra. I ask for nothing more.”

Candice blinks hard as tears well up. “But it’s not fair.”

Lili laughs. “Life is not fair. Perhaps one day you will make it so, but until then…” she turns to the Doctor. “May I do one last thing?”

The Doctor nods. “Anything.”

Lili’s eyes fix on a stage with a piano. She grins impishly at Candice and then slips away like a fish, running and climbing up. A security guard starts towards her but is waved away by the Doctor, who makes her way over with Candice and sits in the front row. Lili settles onto the bench, resting her fingers on the keys, and begins to sing again.

“Sous l'eau du songe qui s'élève/Mon âme a peur, mon âme a peur/Et la lune luit dans mon coeur/Plongé dans les sources du rêve!”

“Why is it in French?” Candice asks. “Shouldn’t it be translated?”

“Some things don’t need translation,” the Doctor says mysteriously. “Just listen. You’ll understand.”

And she does. The haunting melody melds with the serene look on Lili’s face; the music itself burbles like water over rocks. The knot in her heart loosens as the song continues.

“Sous l'ennui morne des roseaux/Seul le reflets profonds des choses/Des lys, des palmes et des roses/Pleurent encore au fond des eaux/Les fleurs s'effeuillent une à une/Sur le reflet du firmament/Pour descendre, éternellement/Sous l'eau du songe et dans la lune.”

Lili’s fingers play one last note. Candice blinks, and when she opens her eyes, Lili is gone. 

Candice lets the tears fall freely now. She turns to the Doctor, smiling as the salty teardrops reach her lips, and asks, “Where are we going next?”

**Author's Note:**

> Songs Used:  
> Always Be My Baby by Mariah Carey  
> Wonderwall by Oasis  
> Reflets (Reflections) by Lili Boulanger
> 
> Translation:  
> Beneath the water of the dream that rises,  
> My soul is afraid, my soul is afraid.  
> And the moon shines into my heart  
> That is bathed in the dream’s source!  
> Beneath the sad tedium of the reeds,  
> Only the deep reflection of things,  
> Of lilies, palms and roses,  
> Still weep on the water’s bed.  
> One by one the flowers shed their leaves  
> Upon the firmament’s reflection  
> To descend, eternally,  
> Beneath the dream’s water and into the moon.


End file.
